Breaking up Prolonged Sitting Time in Office Workers With Light-intensity Walking: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial
Trial Snapshot
- Phase
- Not Applicable
- Status
- Withdrawn
- Sponsor
- University of Bedfordshire
- Primary Endpoint
- Change in Workplace sitting time
Study Overview
Brief Summary
Sitting for long uninterrupted periods of time can increase risk of heart disease, diabetes and early death, even if you take part in the United Kingdom government guidelines for physical activity of 21/2 hours per week of exercise. Effective interventions to reduce the risk of these diseases are therefore needed. The aim of this study is to examine the effects of regularly breaking up sitting time with light intensity treadmill desk walking among office workers on health markers, sitting time and physical activity. If using a treadmill desk leads to benefits in these disease risk markers then this could be an effective strategy to improve employee health in the workplace.
Participants will be randomly assigned to the intervention group or the control group. After baseline activity and health measures, they will take part in the study for 4 weeks.
Intervention group: Participants will have a treadmill desk placed in their office or a nearby location and will be asked to walk while working on the treadmill desk continuously for 20 minutes at a self-selected slow pace each hour for a minimum of 6 hours per shift. There will be one treadmill desk between 2-3 people.
Control group: Participants will be asked to work as usual at their regular workstation with no changes in their physical activity and dietary habits.
Sitting time and physical activity will be measured at baseline and during the last week f the intervention. A range of health and psychological measures will be taken at baseline and post-intervention.
Study Design
- Study Type
- Interventional
- Allocation
- Randomized
- Intervention Model
- Parallel
- Primary Purpose
- Prevention
- Masking
- None
Eligibility Criteria
- Ages
- 18 Years to 65 Years (Adult, Older Adult)
- Sex
- All
- Accepts Healthy Volunteers
- Yes
Inclusion Criteria
- •adults aged 18-65 years who work for shifts lasting ≥ 6 h and spend ≥ 75% of this time sitting at their desk
- •work a minimum of 3 days per week
Exclusion Criteria
- •the presence of any known blood borne disease
- •self-reported diagnosed diabetes
- •physical activity contraindications
- •pregnancy
- •any major injury or illness, tobacco use, or any other health issue that my limit the participant in carrying out the required activity bouts.
- •any planned absence from their office for more than one week during the 4 week study period.
Arms & Interventions
Control
The control group will continue to work as usual at their regular workstations.
Intervention
A shared treadmill workstation will be installed in participating offices, or in a nearby location in case there is no space to fit the workstation in the office, enrolled to this group. Within the intervention group there will be a maximum allocation of two participants per treadmill desk. The participants in the intervention group will be asked to interrupt their sitting with 20 minutes of self-selected light-intensity walking at a speed of 1-4 km/h each hour for a minimum of 6 hours per shift to accumulate a total of 2 hours of light-intensity activity per work day.
Intervention: Treadmill desk walking (Behavioral)
Outcomes
Primary Outcomes
Change in Workplace sitting time
Time Frame: Baseline and week 4 of intervention
This will be objectively measured using an activpal thigh worn activity monitor
Secondary Outcomes
- Change in Sleep quality and quantity(Baseline and post-intervention (within 1 week after intervention ends))
- Change in Daily physical activity(Baseline and week 4 of intervention)
- Change in musculoskeletal symptoms(Baseline and post-intervention (within 1 week after intervention ends))
- Change in presenteeism(Baseline and post-intervention (within 1 week after intervention ends))
- Change in Daily sitting time(Baseline and week 4 of intervention)
- Change in Mental-wellbeing(Baseline and post-intervention (within 1 week after intervention ends))
- Change in Workplace stepping(Baseline and week 4 of intervention)
- Change in body mass index (kg/m2)(Baseline and post-intervention (within 1 week after intervention ends))
- Change in waist circumference (cm)(Baseline and post-intervention (within 1 week after intervention ends))
- Change in blood pressure (mmHg)(Baseline and post-intervention (within 1 week after intervention ends))
- Change in self-efficacy(Baseline and post-intervention (within 1 week after intervention ends))
- Change in blood glucose (mmol/L)(Baseline and post-intervention (within 1 week after intervention ends))
- Change in triglycerides (mmol/L)(Baseline and post-intervention (within 1 week after intervention ends))
- Change in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (mmol/L)(Baseline and post-intervention (within 1 week after intervention ends))
- Change in perceived vigor(Baseline and post-intervention (within 1 week after intervention ends))
- Change in positive and negative affect(Baseline and post-intervention (within 1 week after intervention ends))
- Change in job performance(Baseline and post-intervention (within 1 week after intervention ends))
- Change in work engagement(Baseline and post-intervention (within 1 week after intervention ends))
- Change in perceived stress(Baseline and post-intervention (within 1 week after intervention ends))
- Change in quality of life(Baseline and post-intervention (within 1 week after intervention ends))
Investigators
Daniel Bailey
Senior Lecturer in Health, Nutrition and Exercise
University of Bedfordshire